The relocation and rebuilding of Wheeling Fire Station 42 was officially approved and fully funded by trustees with a maximum price tag of $7,699,244, journal-topics.com reported.

At their Monday, March 20 meeting, Wheeling trustees unanimously approved construction for Fire Station 42 to be rebuilt at 135 McHenry Road.

A village official said the $7.7 million is the worst case scenario, the report said. The project was introduced with a budget goal of $5 million, but flood detention fix costs exceeded the $5 million, prompting a higher than expected cost, according to the report. 

This is not a new fire station, but rather new construction of a relocated fire station, the village official said. 

According to the village, construction on the 10,700 square-foot building is hoping to break ground this spring and take a year to complete.

Fire crews at Fire Station 14 will see $84,000 worth of upgrades to their facility very soon, kristv.com reported. Recently, the City of Corpus Christi approved a renovation project to the fire station facility.

Firefighters have been in the building off South Staples for more than 45 years, the report said.

The kitchen has already been renovated, according to the report. Other changes include replacing ceiling tiles, additions to the bathroom, new LED lighting fixtures, and flooring.

City council approved an $84,772 budget for the project. Many of them are hoping this will make the fire station more comfortable.

Market pressures have driven up the price of a new fire truck for Nanaimo Fire Rescue, nanaimobulletin.com reported.

The new apparatus, a Pierce fire truck being ordered for Fire Station 2, is the same basic vehicle as other Pierce trucks already in service with the fire department, but the cost of this vehicle has jumped to nearly $1.6 million from the previously budgeted $1.2 million, the report said.

A Nanaimo fire official said, in his report to the city’s finance and audit committee March 15, that market pressures are skewing prices. Factors he cited include supply chain issues, new emissions standards and global industrialization that has triggered a boom in demand for fire trucks internationally, according to the report.

Of the total $341,000 extra cost for the new fire truck, $141,000 will be needed in 2023 to cover the deposit required to place the order for the vehicle and the remaining $200,000 will be needed in 2024 before the vehicle is delivered in January 2025, the report said. The extra costs will be drawn from the strategic infrastructure reserve fund.

The fire official mentioned that two other trucks already on order, also to be delivered in January 2025, are within their original budgets, the report said.

A growing number of community members have called for the “disruptive” siren at Langhorne-Middletown Fire Station to be removed in favor of a more advanced alert platform, fox29.com reported. 

The volunteer fire station located in a rural Bucks County (PA) suburb averages less than two calls per day, and received less than 650 last year, the report said. 

A 2019 report found that 60% of firehouses in Bucks County still used sirens. A fire official said low volunteer numbers mean the department can’t risk responding to a life-threatening call down a member, the report said. 

A petition from community members fed up with the noise has collected over 200 signatures, according to the report. One councilmember called removing the siren a high priority, and argued that it’s noise impacts quality of life and has impacted property values, the report said. 

Firefighters, however, say the whole town gets a better deal on insurance because of the presence of the fire station. Town rules give the department final say in whether to continue using the siren, and they voted unanimously to keep sounding the alarm, the report said.